This Teen Girl Couple Was Pressured Into Leaving McDonald's Because They Kissed

Kristeen Ferencz, 16, was eating at McDonald's in Bolton, Manchester, UK on Thursday with her girlfriend and a family member last week when she gave her GF a peck on the cheek. A custodial worker who saw the kiss reprimanded the couple, causing the girls to leave the fast-food chain in tears.

"I noticed this woman just lingering around us, and as I kissed my girlfriend on the cheek, she came over and told us it wasn't appropriate and implied for us to leave," Kristeen recalled of the McDonald's worker in an interview with the Manchester Evening News. "I turned 'round and said, 'Are you homophobic?' But she wouldn't answer. You see a lot worse in McDonald's; there was nothing inappropriate about us kissing on the cheek."

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"It made us feel awful, we were walking out and we didn't know what to do, so we just started crying," Kristeen continued. "That's all we felt we could do."

Later, the teen called to complain to the store's manager, who said the worker would face disciplinary actions if anything similar happened in the future. Kristeen and her girlfriend, who had been regular customers, weren't satisfied with that response.

"We don't feel that's enough," she said. "We want an apology."

A spokesperson for McDonald's later offered one, telling the Evening News, "We are extremely sorry for Ms. Ferenczi and her partner's experience and have taken this complaint very seriously. An internal investigation is currently under way and we would like to make it clear that discrimination of this nature is wholly unacceptable and not, in any way, tolerated by McDonald's."

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For Kristeen and her girlfriend — who have been together for a year — the incident marked a new low in their experience with anti-gay bias.

"We have had people say things to us in the past but we have never had someone approach us and kick us out before," she said.

Discrimination of any form is never OK, but it's reassuring to hear that McDonald's took the incident seriously and apologized.

Hannah Orenstein is the assistant features editor at Seventeen.com. Follow her on and Instagram!